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"The silverback is the alpha male of a family clan (of primates)," said Lloyd Dennis, Silverback Society co-founder.

Silverback Society member D'Juan Hernandez spoke to a group of about 40 children at William J. Fischer Accelerated Academy to shape, inspire and motivate them as WDSU cameras were rolling.

"When you're knocking somebody over the head to get that thing you want, what does society do with you then? Jail! They put you in jail, they put them bracelets on you, then you are forced to exert self-control right? Well, why let that be the thing to make you have self-control?"

It's straight talk for eighth-grade boys at the academy, which is one of seven schools in the Crescent City where young males are being mentored by a select group of men with the Silverback Society. The group volunteers one hour a week for 20 weeks to teach, motivate and inspire.

"The world's got you fooled," Hernandez told the children. "The world has you thinking you supposed to have an iPhone -- you're supposed to have $150 tennis shoes … Can you sell them to pay for college? Can you sell them to pay for high school? So, what value do they add to your life? Do you really run faster with Jordans? Can you really jump higher? So the world got you fooled."

It's real talk to prepare youngsters for the real world, defining their roles and responsibility by giving them positive examples of manhood.

"Children are growing up without fathers, and boys who grow up without fathers don't understand what they are supposed to be, and girls who grow up without fathers don't understand what they're supposed to have in their lives," Hernandez said.

To that end, the youngsters must commit to the Silverback Code of Respect and Accountability.

"That means when you go home at the end of the day. That book sack that you carry on your back needs more than your spiral tablet in it right? You need your books. You need to get your work done," Hernandez told the group of kids.

With what Hernandez says comes a lesson about the true meaning of success.Hernandez told the children that "success does not mean that you have to become a lawyer. Success could mean that you hop up and down off a garbage truck."

Hernandez said that the only thing that matters is that, "you are doing a good job, leading an upstanding life and taking care of the people that are important to you."The Silverback Society has several profound mottos - one of which is a quote from the great abolitionist, author and orator, Frederick Douglass - "It is easier to raise healthy children than to fix broken men."